Via the Red Wings on Twitter:
It’s on! August 24th @ Duck Lake Pines Park in Highland, MI
Join our first 2 players on the roster, @JoeKocur26 & @Dylanlarkin39 as we raise $$$ for local charities. Tix @ https://t.co/iIhwArF95S #lgrw #charity pic.twitter.com/ZEtYP7qFg0— Joe Kocur (@kocurfoundation) August 2, 2019
Advance tickets are $10 or $15 “at the door”; there are more details available at the Joe Kocur Foundation’s website.
The Athletic’s Max Bultman is busy this morning, having posted an article describing the Red Wings prospects play at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI. Bultman begins by talking about Jonatan Berggren’s play for Sweden:
One of the standouts of the Red Wings’ development camp in Detroit last month, Jonatan Berggren is finally back in live game action after sitting out the second half of last year with a back injury. Sweden had planned, even before the tournament began, to sit Berggren in one of the early games in order to ease him back in. That decision was made even easier when he got tangled up with an opposing Team USA player at the end of his debut game.
He was ultimately fine, and he got into his second game Wednesday, but early on it has seemed like he might still be shaking off some rust. Saturday, Sweden coach Tomas Monten said Berggren had been “looking good (in practices). He’s strong on the puck, he creates plays. We would like him to shoot more, to be like a finisher, but today I don’t think he managed to make plays and play at the same speed that the U.S. did. But it was a good game for him (to have played) going forward.”
Continued (paywall)
NHL.com’s Dave Hogg penned a profile of Red Wings prospect Robert Mastrosimone, who’s currently recovering from a broken ankle suffered during the Red vs. White game at the Wings’ summer development camp:
Mastrosimone (5-foot-10, 158 pounds) is expected to recover in time for his freshman season at Boston University, where the 18-year-old will work on getting faster and stronger. It will be a step in his development after he had 105 points (47 goals, 58 assists) in 114 games the past two seasons with Chicago of the United States Hockey League. He had 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in 11 USHL playoff games last season.
“I can’t wait to be part of that little rivalry (Boston University vs. Boston College),” he said. “That’s going to be great. Growing up on Long Island (East Islip, New York), I got to know a lot of Boston guys, which is awesome.”
The Red Wings are looking forward to seeing how quickly Mastrosimone develops.
“He’s really a skilled, competitive kid with great hands and great hockey sense,” Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said. “He needs to fill out, but his skill level and hands are exciting.”
Red Wings prospect Joe Veleno is in the spotlight today at the World Junior Summer Showcase. The Canadian Press already profiled the “exceptional” center this afternoon, and the Detroit News took note of Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin’s take on Veleno’s play…
Veleno, a 6-1, 190-pound center who was selected by Detroit with the 30th overall pick in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft, had a goal and an assist with two shots and was plus one in a 4-1 victory over the United States at USA Hockey Arena on Tuesday.
The native of Kirkland, Quebec is expected to return to the lineup on Friday when Canada faces Sweden at 1 p.m. Veleno and his linemates Kirby Dach and Alexis Lafreniere didn’t play in Wednesday’s 8-3 loss to Finland.
Dach, the third overall pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2019, had two goals and one assist against the U.S. Lafreniere, the projected No. 1 player for the 2020 draft, had one assist as the line combined for six points, eight shots and two power-play goals.
“I thought he looked great,” Martin said. “He was having a little more success in terms of puck battles and the strength that he showed out there. It’s a real credit to the work he’s put in at the gym. He’s had two really good offseasons and he has a chance to play a big role on the Canadian team.”
The Detroit News continues, and Hockeybuzz’s Bob Duff noted that Veleno is serving as a mentor for Alexis Lafreniere:
Veleno was the first player in QMJHL history to be granted exceptional player status by Hockey Canada, permitting him to play in the league at the age of 15, so much like Lafreniere, he’s been ahead of the curve, always skating against players that were older than him.
“I think it made me a lot more mature as a person, as a player, and obviously looking back at it, it was something I really wanted to be the first one in the QMJHL,” Veleno said. “I guess it doesn’t really matter now at this point in time but yeah, I learned a lot from that, the maturity level from a lot of older players. It made me a better person today.”
It also made Veleno the perfect sounding board for Lafreniere last season when he played for Canada at the world junior championship at the age of 16.
“It shows he’s able to compete at this level,” Veleno said. “It looks like he has no problem on the ice. He’s going to be a hell of a player later on, he already is now. His skill set, his work ethic, I think that’s what makes him, that’s what sets him apart from everyone else.”
Finally, TSN posted a YouTube video in which Mark Masters profiles Veleno and discusses the adversity Veleno overcame over the course of his development:
Red Wings prospect Joe Veleno discussed his status as an “exceptional” player who’s been playing in the QMJHL since he was 15, reflecting on his long Major Junior career with the Canadian Press:
“I kind of second-guess myself whether I should have got it or not,” Veleno said of lobbying to play junior at 15. “But at the end of the day it was a decision that I made at that point in time. I try not to look back at it too much. I’m just trying to focus on where I am right now.”
That’s with Hockey Canada at the World Junior Summer Showcase in suburban Detroit.
Veleno and 36 other teenagers are taking part in the event as the country ramps up preparations for the 2020 world junior hockey championship with a series of practices and exhibition games.
Now 19, Veleno is one of six returning players from last year’s team that finished a disappointing sixth in Vancouver and Victoria, although only he and star winger Alexis Lafreniere have hit the ice in Plymouth.
A year younger than the majority of his teammates at the 2019 world juniors, Veleno was cast in a supporting role — a difficult situation for a player finally rounding into form.
“It’s never easy,” said Veleno, who had two assists in five games at the under-20 tournament. “The coaching staff felt the need to put some other players on the ice. It’s their decision, but my goal was just to give it my best. My attitude (and) my work ethic around the rink, that’s something I can control.”
The Grand Rapids Griffins have posted a video highlighting the team’s top 5 saves made during the 2018-2019 season:
The New York Rangers bought out Kevin Shattenkirk today, and MLive’s Ansar Khan wonders aloud whether the Wings should pursue the 30-year-old defenseman’s services:
Shattenkirk, 30, was one of the top players in the 2017 free-agent class. The Rangers signed him to a four-year, $26.6 million contract, but he was made expendable due to his lack of production and their acquisition of Jacob Trouba from Winnipeg, who the Rangers inked two weeks ago to a seven-year, $56 million extension.
A knee injury limited Shattenkirk (6-0, 206) to 46 games in 2017-18, when he tallied 23 points. He appeared in 73 games last season, picking up only two goals and 26 assists.
The Hockey News’s Jared Clinton anticipates the Red Wings’ expansion draft protected list for the summer of 2021, when the Seattle franchise will enter the NHL and build its roster via an expansion draft’s worth of selections from each and every one of the NHL’s other 31 teams:
STRATEGY: Out with the old, in with (or hang on to) the new. Yzerman had his work cut out for him when he arrived in Detroit and replaced Ken Holland, the franchise’s longtime architect who has since departed for the Edmonton Oilers. One of Yzerman’s tasks is going to be sparking a full-on youth movement that centers around some of the bright young talent that has been compiled. That means protecting every piece of promising talent and leaving any veteran players who are available up for grabs.
Given that’s the plan, that means any veteran under contract at the time of the draft has been left unprotected. Nielsen? Unprotected. Abdelkader? Unprotected. DeKeyser? Unprotected. Together, those three skaters account for $14.5 million against the cap through the expansion draft and that’s money the Red Wings will want to rid themselves of around the time Seattle is making its way into the league.
THE NO BRAINER: Dylan Larkin isn’t just the offensive leader in Detroit, he’s a future captain and the centerpiece of the franchise. If there is one player on the roster today who can be built around, it’s Larkin, and as such he’s the safest bet for the Red Wings to use a protection slot on. Like a few others who’ve fallen into the no-brainer category throughout the Expansion Plan series, Larkin basically carries a no-movement clause without actually having the tag next to his name. That’s how important he is.
DetroitRedWings.com’s Carley Johnston spoke with Danny DeKeyser regarding his recent graduation from Western Michigan University in the latest installment of “Coffee With Carley”:
The NHL’s YouTube channel posted a clip of the top 5 Jimmy Howard saves from 2018-2019:
